When Lindsey Vonn broke the all-time record for World Cup victories on Jan. 19 with her Super-G win at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, she was greeted by an ecstatic entourage at the finish line, including her parents, step-parents and sister.

Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn admits it's tough not being able to defend her downhill skiing gold medal in Sochi, especially after working hard to battle back from an earlier knee injury, only to suffer a second one.

"It's hard. I just want to be there but I can't," says Vonn, 29, who made the difficult decision to sit out this Olympics once she realized her knee was too unstable to compete.

Vonn, the most accomplished female skier in U.S. history, credits her mom, Lindy Lund, with helping her stay positive no matter what challenge she has faced.

Pulling out of the Winter Olympics was devastating for skiing champion Lindsey Vonn – but, thankfully, the slow recovery from her knee injury hasn't been too ruff.

"I get to spend time with my new dog," she told PEOPLE at DirecTV's Super Saturday Concert Event over the weekend. "He's keeping me happy."

The boxer-retriever mix named Leo – whom Vonn adopted from a shelter on Christmas Eve – has made a difficult turn of events so much easier for the athlete, especially since he knows exactly what she's going through.

After partially tearing her ACL in a training accident on Nov. 19, downhill racing champ Lindsey Vonn told Today that she is guardedly optimistic she'll be ready to compete in the 2014 Winter Olympics, which begins in just 72 days.

"I'm confident it's going to be okay," the 2010 gold medalist, 29, told Matt Lauer about her knee. "At this point, that's all I can do, is stay positive. I'm kind of out of options at this point. I hope I can continue racing."